Community responds generously to Holiday Food drive

Guelph – Green Party Leader and local candidate Mike Schreiner and his team knocked on doors in Guelph this past week collecting food for the Guelph Food Bank.

“Sadly, a record number of people in Ontario visited food banks in 2012,” says Schreiner. “Guelph is a caring community. We wanted to make it easy for people to give by collecting food donations door to door. The community’s generous response to our food drive is a positive sign of how neighbours can work together to effect change.”

Food bank use in Ontario hit a record high in 2012 — 412,998 individuals visited an Ontario food bank in March alone. Children represented 38.7 per cent or 159,918 of these users. Food bank use is up 31.4% in Ontario in the past four years. The Guelph Food Bank distributed 1,075,300 pounds — 500 tons — of food in 2011.

“We can all make a difference now by donating and volunteering to support the food bank,” says Schreiner. “But we must do better. Ontario needs a strategy to reduce poverty and build a healthy food system that works for eaters and farmers.”